Boycotts are for idiots

So the latest bot plague on various social media outlets, naturally run up the flagpole for days by said outlets, is an effort to boycott the NRA. Which would be the organization that has sweet fuck all to do with school shootings. This is nothing new, and has been a thing for some years now whenever a bunch of retards on Twitter decide to create a bot storm targeting whatever companies support a given organization they disagree with.

What surprises me is that major corporations worth billions of dollars, who ultimately have to answer to shareholders knuckle under to this nonsense.

I've been in business my entire adult life, and some years before that to boot, and if there's one thing I've learned it is that politicizing one's business in any way is quite possibly the stupidest thing anyone can do, and it boggles the mind that anyone in a position of authority in a large, or even small company thinks this is a good idea.

Protip, guys: Alienating half (or more) of your customer base is massively stupid, eclipsed only by kowtowing a mob, especially a fake one. Not only are said fake mobsters not going to positively affect your revenues by anything other than a rounding error, the number of people who had previously been loyal customers, or who simply dislike this sort of thing jumping ship most certainly will, and it is next to impossible to get those folk back.

Another protip: Know who pays the most attention to this kind of thing, and who can really do unpleasant things to your business? Shareholders. Would you invest in a company that perscribes to mob rule? I sure as hell would not, as it is a key indicator of apocalyptically stupid management.

Want to support a given cause or politician? Great. It's not hard to do that, while not taking a giant, steaming crap all over your brand by doing it publicly with said brand, which in many cases is the most valuable thing held by your company.